Fussy eater needs help!

peachybum21

Hi guys
im after some help and suggestions please!
So I'm an incredibly fussy eater, all my friends and family know. I don't like many vegetables apart from peas, green beans and carrots, I don't like spicy food or pizza or pasta...so weight loss is an increasing struggle.
I love my carbs and I love meat; chicken, sausages, ribs, steak...you get the picture!
I'm cutting down on my processed foods but my fussiness makes things so restrictive on having a varied, non boring, low cal diet!
and before anyone suggests it, I was diagnosed with an allergy to certain fruits too !
I used to love eating cucumber, raw cabbage (!), strawberries, grapes, apples, but now if I do, my tongue swells up, as does my throat!
I love meals with gravy, like roast dinners, stews, traditional british pub grub type foods.

I guess I just wonder if anyone is as fussy as me and has any good ideas to help me have more variety. And no, I don't want to force myself to eat things that I don't like just because theyre good for me, or i'll stop enjoying losing weight and get even fatter!

No nasty comments please

soupandcookies

I'm a firm believer in NOT eating things I don't like. When I eat foods I don't like, just because they are healthy, it's a set up for overeating (I eat something I hate, and then I want to eat a gallon of ice cream, because I subconsciously feel I "deserve" something I like). You can still lose weight without eating fruits and vegetables, although you'll be missing some nutrients. Are you willing to TRY and like some new foods, or do you want to try and find a way to make healthier versions of the things you do like?

I have found that roasting vegetables, makes almost any veggie taste delicious (But I love veggies, so you may not agree). Just toss fresh vegetable (broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, turnips, beets... anything!) in a tablespoon of olive oil, add salt and pepper (and other spices, if you like), and roast in a 425 oven, for about 30 minutes.

I think you can easily make some healthy beef stews, using vegetables, potatoes and beef, or make roast chicken dinners. These things can be made very healthy. If you plan to eat pub grub type foods, and you want to make them or order them made traditionally, you may just need to seriously cut down on your portion sizes. You can eat anything you want, but if you want to lose weight, you may not be able to eat huge portions of pub grub style food.

Also, you seem like a good candidate for a low carb lifestyle. What are your thoughts on that?

BekaBooluvsu

Im curious to see your suggestions. I am gluten intolerant so there is ALOT of things I can't eat. Oats and all forms, corn and all forms, pasta, flour and all forms. Here's an idea of what I eat, maybe it might help, maybe not but I should try either way.

Breakfast: coffee 1.5tsp sugar 1.5 tsp milk, 2 medium celery stalks with 3 tbsp Peanut butter (Smucker's Organic), 2 boiled egg with a dash of salt, 1 serving fruit (apple, tangerine, kiwi, cantaloupe, strawberries or blueberries)

Lunch: 85grams of baby spinach and spring mix, 1 tbsp caesar dressing, 1 oz fresh grated parmesan, 1 tbsp bacon crumbled, 4 oz baked chicken with garlic salt, also 1 serving of fruit

Dinner: 1 cup broccoli, 1 cup cauliflower boiled, drained and salted, 4-6 oz baked chicken with garlic salt, sometimes 1/4 cup Quinoa cooked, 1 serving of fruit

Snack: Chobani bite 100 calories, carrots with garlic lovers hummus
Water to drink

DebbieLyn63

My husband didn't eat any veggies, fruits, or 'healthy' foods when I met him. Super picky about food. He did like pastas, so I started cooking those for him and we both gained 15 lbs in the first 6 months.

Now, over the years, he has increase his food palate a bit. He eats salads with lots of stuff in it, just because he knows he needs to decrease his calories and they fill him up a bit before he hits the 'real' food.

Other than that, he is happy with just a big plate of meat.
I had to cut the majority of starchy carbs out of my diet when I started to lose weight, so he was nice enough to not insist on mac and cheese, rice, potatoes, etc.
When he started seeing progress himself, he continued with eating most of my foods as well.
He still doesn't like many veggies, other than salad, but he did try Spaggetti squash in chicken parm one day and actually liked it!
Putting cheese and sauce on veggies makes them much more tasty!

So anyway, he is still a basic meat kinda guy, but has tried a few things he thought he'd never like, i.e. baked Tilapia and Salmon, chili, grilled chicken, and he even likes cauliflower pizza! Gasp!

And he gets his burgers and fries in after a good bike race, on his way home.

No need to drastically change your diet. Just find ways to make your faves a little lower calorie, and find a few new lower cal items you can learn to eat. Play around with spices and such.

It all comes down to calories. When you see how many calories are in the foods you like, you can figure out how to work them into your diet, or substitute some lower cal versions.

bcattoes

Just eat less of foods you enjoy and take a multivitamin.

Pixt

Just eat less of foods you enjoy and take a multivitamin.

^^^ This

Plus, check your macros. Set your MFP goals for the weight loss you are going for and then make sure you're under (or at) carbs and sodium, and get enough fats and protein.

If the only thing you can stand eating is meat with gravy and a side of gravy, just measure the bejebus out of what you're putting on your plate and only put enough to fit your macros. If you're going over on something, put less of it on your plate. If you're way under on something, add more of it. Remember, to watch sodium, if you're not affected by it, more power to you ... but if you are sensitive to it, you can eat at a calorie deficit for weeks and I don't care what anyone says about calories being the only measure, you'll gain water weight like no tomorrow.

Fitness isn't a matter of who can choke down the most broccoli. Though, truth be told, I rather enjoy broccoli ...

Fuzzipeg

I second small portions.

Food allergies/intolerances/sensitivities are a real pain. mines salicylate and I might need to add insulin resistance too. Mine gets in the way of all the good things in life, I dare not get too close to people because of the aroma of many washing products and perfumes.

All the best

broccoli is high in slaicylate!!!!!!! and really fussy is vegetarians who don't eat vegetables. my grandchildren well 3 of them

kristilovescake

There are ways to spruce up a lot of veggies to make them delicious. One way to add some to your meals is try to "sneak" veggies into your normal meals. If you like spaghetti, try adding some onion, mushrooms, green zucchini (surprisingly it doesn't have much flavor) to your sauce, all minced a little smaller so you won't really taste them - you'll mostly taste just the sauce. When I make meatloaf, I add quinoa instead of bread crumbs and I shred in some carrots instead of ketchup (they're sweet) and some minced onions. I basically try to switch out unhealthy items in cooking, or sneak in a few extra veggies.

There are some fruit and veggies I don't like (tomatoes = yuck!) but if I add them to other meals I can tolerate them and even like them if they're seasoned (I like chunky tomatoes in pasta, salsa, etc.).

Try baking/frying some veggies with seasoning to change the flavor/consistency and you might be surprised that you actually like some of these veggies if they're prepared differently. (Btw, I've seen recipes for roasted zucchini with Parmesan cheese... I've never tried it, but pretty much anything tastes better with cheese, so it might be worth a try).

I think if you have the time you should work on finding a new veggie recipe to try once a week (or once a month, or whenever you have extra time to cook); you'll find some new ways of cooking veggies that actually make them delicious. You might find some not-100% healthy recipes for veggies that are delicious, but eating some semi-healthy veggies is better than no veggies IMO.

Pixt

Try baking/frying some veggies with seasoning to change the flavor/consistency and you might be surprised that you actually like some of these veggies if they're prepared differently. (Btw, I've seen recipes for roasted zucchini with Parmesan cheese... I've never tried it, but pretty much anything tastes better with cheese, so it might be worth a try).

Roasting/baking veggies is actually a really good idea. Normally I can't stand cauliflower but if you spritz a little olive oil on it, dust it with some herbs and roast it for 40 minutes till the edges are getting singed, it's actually delicious.

tristaj90

In a year I lost 98 pounds and for the last year I've maintained that weight. I do not eat anything healthy, I barely eat anything except for the same 15-20 different foods I do eat... I refuse to try anything new. I'm that fussy. If the name of it sounds bad, if it looks bad, or smells bad, I will NOT touch it. I have tried to try new foods but I end up gagging and almost throwing up. I am a HUGE texture person. Not sure what it is, but I've been that way for the last 16 years (and I'm 23 now).

Sorry that doesn't really help you, but it does go to show that it's not really what you eat, its how much.. and you can still lose.

DeliriumCanBeFun

I recommend you do some experimenting. If there are fruits and veggies that you can eat and are willing to try, look up different ways to prepare them. There's almost nothing that I don't eat, but I hated brussel sprouts until I tried them roasted with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. My husband on the other hand is picky, but I have managed to stretch him. Found out he'd eat broccoli, so we tend to eat that a couple of times a week. Found out he'd eat zuchinin, yellow squash, red bell pepper and onion with olive oil and lemon pepper sautee that I love so much if I have Yum Yum sauce (Japanese hibachi seafood sauce, very easy to make) to serve with it. There are a lot of substitutions you can make to make your favorite dishes lower calorie and less fattening. I make a "skinny" alfredo sauce from greek yogurt, chicken broth, parmesean and a few other ingredients, and my whole family loves it. I batter and oven fry veggie and meat and fish on occasion for variety and the sense of eating something a little less healthy. Try to stretch your palate a little at a time, and your tastes will change over time even if just a little.

Im curious to see your suggestions. I am gluten intolerant so there is ALOT of things I can't eat. Oats and all forms, corn and all forms, pasta, flour and all forms.

And as for as this, I'm just really curious...why can't you have corn and oats?? Both are gluten free on their own to my knowledge.

JenSD6

I used to be a very picky eater, and seeing my father get worse about food limitations over the years to the point it makes my mother miserable cooking for him, I decided to change my own outlook on food and have a more open mind. It was baby steps, but I slowly worked on adding foods and trying new things. And now I'm willing to at least try most anything.

Go slowly and think positively about what you might find that you didn't know you liked. You'll surprise yourself. I went from picking off the tiniest bits of bell peppers to loving them and wondering why I'd been missing out on them all this time.

gimpygramma

One of the advantages of eating vegetables is that it allows you to up the bulk/volume of your meals without adding much by way of calories. The strict portion control suggested already will work but it might leave you feeling quite deprived. I am wondering if you could "hide" some vegetables in your meaty dishes so you could allow yourself larger portions without actually tasting the vegetables. This is fairly easy if you are using a ground meat. You can add shredded carrots, turnips, chopped onions, peppers, etc....

The other thing I wonder is how you are on soups. Again, something to fill you up a bit before you get to your meat and potatoes.

GBrady43068

So I'm an incredibly fussy eater, all my friends and family know. I don't like many vegetables apart from peas, green beans and carrots,

First off unless you're getting bored of eating them, you're getting pretty good nutritional punch even if you only eat the peas, green beans and carrots:
Peas: 26% Vitamin A, 38% Vitamin c, 4% Calcium, 14% iron, 9g fiber per 160g. Also some Vitamin K, Thiamin,Manganese,Riboflavin, Phosporus and Copper. Low in sodium.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2521/2

Carrots: 32% Vitamin A, 1% Vitamin C. Also some Vitamin E, Thiamin, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Manganese.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2384/2

Green Beans: 17% Vitamin A, 20% Vitamin C, Calcium 5%, Iron 5% plus some thiamin, Riboflavin, Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese. 4 g dietary fiber per 125g.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2342/2

But if you ARE getting tired of those three, I'll second the people suggesting you roast other vegetables when you try them. Good way to add flavor without drowning them in fat (which although tasty adds calories).

I'll particularly suggest you try (if you haven't) roasted brussel sprouts...however please know that those seem to be a love it or hate it type item. I have yet to find someone with a "meh" atttitude toward that particular
vegetable. You could also try red pepper...it's really rather mild, particularly when roasted.

Another option is to consider adding canned pumpkin (make sure it's not pumpkin PIE filling...just pumpkin). I can add it undetected to chili to add some extra nutrients. This is for the "no salt added" variety:
per 245g, 7g fiber, 3g protein, 763% Vitamin A, 17% Vitamin C, Calcium 6%, Iron 19% along with some Vitamin E, Panthothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Manganese.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2602/2

And if your issue is more the "I don't want to see it" rather than texture, you might try the "Sneaky Chef" type route using purees of vegetables you can't stomach whole. There are a couple cookbooks that do that sort of thing and your local library probably has one you can borrow and try out. Jessica Seinfeld wrote one (I forget the name) that we have at home.

I love my carbs and I love meat; chicken, sausages, ribs, steak...you get the picture!

Focus on getting the leaner cuts if you're doing beef or pork. You can also at least CONSIDER substituting turkey sausage here and there for the more fat-laden pork type.

I love meals with gravy, like roast dinners, stews, traditional british pub grub type foods.

As others have said, really focus on portion size if you're eating these.

And since you mentioned carbs, if you haven't already tried it, you can eliminate a lot of fat calories from traditional brownies (and add some fiber) by using black beans, pureed with about 1 cup of water, in place of the oil. I *KNOW* it sounds weird but I've actually done it and it works well and is tasty. I'm told it can be done with canned pumpkin as well but I haven't tried that so have no personal experience with that.

peachybum21

thanks for all the fantastic replies so far!
I did try cabbage once because i was in a restaurant and felt a bit stupid not eating it, and actually liked it so thats one more to add to the list!
I have reduced my portion sizes and the reason that i put on loads of weight again was mainly because i graze, i would sit in the house on days i wasn't working and just eat copious amounts of crisps and bread! So i've stopped the grazing, stopped chips but make home made, oil free, wedges which i weigh to make sure i don't get carried away, I buy all my meat from butchers, and do generally eat alot of chicken, if its not in gravy, everything is grilled.
I take a multivitamin everyday, only eat granary bread, etc!

my portion sizes are much much better now than they have been.
Someone suggested soup, i love soup! I'll even eat the vegetables if theyre in a soup format! I try and make my own when i have them time with chicken, leek and potato, or a vegetable soup, where if i dont like certain veg, i'll blend them and use them as a thickening agent.
As im typing this, i'm getting ideas of things that i would eat that would make a change, i.e chicken faitas with salad, makes my mouth water just thinking about it!
i miss fruit, especially in summer, can't beat fresh strawberries! unfortunately the temptation of fresh strawberries isn't enough to make me want to occlude my airway!

OH! and regarding the red meat, i do try and go for leaner cuts, i make my own cottage pie, but very specific about it being a lean steak mince, which i dry fry so i guess on the meat front its covered!